AMOLF Countersnapping models 3MF format - Injection Molds & Connectors

Heard from the original designer Paul Ducarme (@PaulDucarme_3415198), he has official files posted on his own site, suggest everyone go check those out rather than my reverse engineered ones, probably improve your chances at making something usable with less stress.

Thanks Paul, this was extremely fun and educational to play around with.

https://ducarme.github.io/projects.html

I'll leave this up for now since there's so many links out in the wild, don't want to leave anyone out in the cold.

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* Legacy Info *

These are all the model files I could find for the countersnapping mechanism shown in the Veritasium video from June 30th, 2025. A lot of people were asking for them, so I found the original files in a 26gb replication zip file by the original authors, converted the files from Solidworks PAR format to 3MF using a free OnShape account, reversed the injection molds back into positives using simple boolean editing (Microsoft 3D builder is still surprisingly useful) and uploaded the resulting STL files here on Printables for convenience.

Now that the hard part is done, I shall try to see what materials work best with them. I'm thinking PLA or PETG for the solid parts (not a huge fan of ABS/ASA as I enjoy breathing), with high infill TPU for the flexible ones. 

If TPU isn't solid or bouncy enough I do have an unused roll of polypropylene I purchased on a whim about 6 months back that might work nicely as well, since it can handle repeated bending without breaking. Beyond that it might be worth trying PBT or one of those crazily overpriced flexible PLA's.

Basic Build: 2 end connectors (either short or long, dealers choice), 2 horizontal-vertical connectors, 2 stiffening blocks, 2 softening blocks, and 1 nonmonotonic block to form the version in the first part of the video.

Changes: The holes appeared a little on the tight side, probably intentional to compensate for what appears to be soft silicone, so I made an alternate version with a 3mm holes which fits my PETG and TPU prints perfectly.

I did not generate the original models, only hunted them down, converted them, and made them do my bidding (subtle edits to make them more print friendly).

Enjoy the insanity, I know I will.

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Original source material:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QTkPfq7w1A&ab_channel=Veritasium

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxtkcL0z5j0&ab_channel=AMOLF

https://amolf.nl/publications/exotic-mechanical-properties-enabled-by-countersnapping-instabilities

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2423301122#supplementary-materials

https://zenodo.org/records/15115687